Destined to Pursue a Dream
There used to be a commercial with a tag line, "Don't bother me I'm eating". Well, that is how we met Felix. It wasn't until we finished eating our tacos at the NALIP conference, that we said hello and realized that Felix typifies what BF Cafe is about. First Felix loves his tacos like we do, and second, Felix had a dream to become a film maker. He quit his job, was married and thirty years old, but he's living his dream. We think you'll find his story inspiring...
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BFC: From an early age, living in Chigaco you knew you wanted to be a film maker.
Yes, I was born on the west side of Chicago. I lived there for about 14 years and then we moved to Los Angeles just before the LA riots took place. I loved and still do love Chicago. The poverty stricken ghetto's we lived in helped to create in me a desire for something more than a mediocre life and I guess that's when I began to dream about bigger and better things (a la film).
My parents didn't discourage me but you have to understand that living in these neighborhoods and dreaming about film making wasn't realistic. So I grew up thinking that film making is for certain kind of people and I was not that kind. I come from poor/working class neighborhoods and so when I told people about wanting to be director they kind of patronized me and changed the subject to getting a job instead. I wish I could say I ignored the lack of support and persevered and pursued my dream full throttle but I can't. I began to believe that it was unrealistic to think I could be a director and for 26 years I believed in ordinary things like work, family and just getting by. But then my father died and everything changed for me.
BFC: A special occurance also happen in your youth that sparked your interest in film. What happened?
This is a great story. It was the summer of 1989 I was 11 years old and I was riding my bike to the theater to go see Spike Lee's masterpiece DO THE RIGHT THING. I had exactly 7 crumpled dollars in my pocket and was not to be denied. The ticket seller gave me a hard time being the movie was very Rated R but I explained to him that seeing DO THE RIGHT THING was more educational for me than watching BATMAN fight the Joker or watching INDIANA JONES take on the Nazis, again. He agreed and took my little $7 and I got myself a ticket. From the opening of the Universal logo to the quotes of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X that close the film I was mesmerized. At that moment I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. I rode my bike home in a daze got caught up by some gangsters, got beat up and had my bike taken from me. I walked home bloodied and bruised still dreaming of the day I'd make my DO THE RIGHT THING. On a side note I recently wrote Spike and sent him a copy of my short film "Destined" thanking him for inspiring an 11 year old to dream.
BFC: You had mentioned that you went to film school at the age of 30 and with a family. How did you manage this? Your wife must be very supportive?
I did. I was actually 29 when I began in March 2007 at the Los Angeles Film School and turned 30 a week prior to graduating which was this past February. My wife is a God send she is extremely supportive and genuinely believes in my vision for not just film making but where I want to take our family. All of 2005 and 2006 I was working two jobs, 7 days a week to pay off all our silly debt that we had accumulated during our first few years of marriage. It was rough but I knew I wanted to give this dream, that has haunted me since 1989, a shot and I felt like this was my last opportunity to do so. My wife was all for it. I had my fears but the sign I needed from God that this was the right path was when I met Spike Lee at USC back in November of 2006 and he encouraged me to take the leap. So I quit both my jobs (one of which was a promising accounting position at an elevator company) in February of 2007 prayed to God for protection and grace, and ventured into film school in Hollyweird (wood) CA. My wife's job, loans I took out and God's grace sustained us throughout the year so that we lacked nothing. God is good.
BFC: In film school, were there any other Latinos in the school?
There were a few Latinos at the Los Angeles Film School. No where near the amount of white folks, but there were even less Blacks or Asians so I guess I couldn't complain too much. I am very Latino or as I prefer Mestizo driven to create films by us, for us and about us as a people. I get really annoyed when things become "Chicano" or "Boricua" or whatever I consider my brothers and sisters to come from Tijuana, Mexico all the way down to Lima, Chile. We're all Mestizo's in my eyes. But anyway so during film school I naturally gravitated toward the few Mestizo's in my class and we actually got together to film a short entitled "This Thug's Life" of which I produced, wrote and directed and was one of only 2 films that was shot during the second semester of our class. I was very proud of that and of my crew. My desire is to, through my films give as much work to Mestizo filmmakers as possible in front and behind the camera. Get them in the unions and inspire the next generation of Mestizo filmmakers to do even better. Possibly being a Gatekeeper at one of the BIG STUDIOS and green light more films about our experience so that we are no longer just foreign films but mainstream. I'd love to see a Mestizo Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington.
BFC: Is "Destined" a short film you made in school? How did you develop the story? Can you tell a little about how it felt to see your short story come to life, from the page to the screen?
Yes, "Destined" was my thesis film. "Destined" is a film that derived from a feature film idea (of which I am currently developing) that I had been working on since the death of my father back in February of 2004. My father died of cirrhosis and this effected me very deeply so much that I lost my faith in God, I alienated my wife and son and could not find any closure to the pain and guilt I felt of my estranged relationship with my father. I began to drink heavily (of which I never did) and almost lost my life on a couple of occasions. But by the grace of God I managed to survive this period in my life and I began to re channel my grief through writing and I came about this story of a fall and redemption. I am a Christian (in case you haven't noticed yet) and believe in the redemptive power of God's love and forgiveness and I wanted to tell a grimy, realistic story of a young man who is caught between the grief of his dead father and the joy of his newborn son. And delve into this idea of how hard it is for a young man to be a father when he was never a son to his father and how those guilty memories effect the young man as he moves forward with his son.
We deal with this idea in greater depth for the feature film. Even though it's a heavy subject for a short I still wanted to make it (though I was encouraged to do something else by teachers) because I figured if I never make another film at least I can have this one and I can dedicate it to my father hoping to make atonement. I actually broke down weeping while trying to give direction to my actors during the scene in the film where Nick and Miguel argue in the living room just before Miguel goes into his father's bedroom (the grave). I wasn't there when my father actually died (my youngest brother Mario was) and so as I was trying to describe to Eric Urbiztondo (the actor who played Miguel) his emotional state I began to visualize my father dying in his bed and I lost it. I was embarrassed but my actors later told me that seeing me weep like that took them to the emotional place they needed to be. I thank God.
BFC: How did you fund the short film "Destined"? However, you mentioned that you hoped to be in production for the feature film of "Destined". How were you able to this happen?
We got "Destined" the short in the can for $8,000. I funded it through money saved, $100 donations from friends and family and my best friend/business partner invested as well. It was tight budget but I'm proud of our little film. Yes, December 1st, 2008 (my wife's 30th birthday) is the prognosticated date for the start of principle photography for the feature. I am currently finishing the second draft of "Destined" the feature film of which we will begin raising money for in May. We're hoping to attract Private Investors that will see our vision for the film and the impact we believe it can have on any young man who's experience with his father may echo that of mine in some form or fashion. I say we will be in production by December because I believe in "speaking those thing's that aren't as though they are," and I am confident that we have a great story that needs to be told and will be a lucrative venture for that person or person's willing to invest.
BFC: What are your future plans as a filmmaker? What type of films would you like to make?
My future plans are to make movies that inspire, move and entertain the heart. I have 5 other scripts that I want to shoot after "Destined." I also want to build my production company JAZZINO CINEMA into a force for the Latino (Mestizo) film making community that will not only produce my films but those of up and coming filmmakers as well. The end goal for JAZZINO CINEMA would be to not only be a production company but a distributor as well so we can green light the films that should be made but aren't. As far as the kind of films I'd like to make well I know I would love to go back to Chicago and shoot some if not all of my films and be known as the director from Chicago as Woody Allen and Spike Lee are known for New York. But again it all depends on the subject matter. I think seeing "Destined" is an appropriate gauge of the kind of stories I want to tell.
BFC: For people wanting to go to film school, what advice would you give to them?
Don't go. Just kidding. No, I actually enjoyed my 1 year course at the Los Angeles Film School. I met fellow film geeks and made a ton of short films. I've heard some not so pleasant things about the big film schools like USC, UCLA and NYU that you don't really get to make films only talk about them. So at age 29 that didn't work for me. I was running out of time and I needed to make some movies and see if I had the chops. But, if you're young and don't have a family to feed and you wanna spend 4 years or more talking about films and maybe making a few than go for the NYU's of the world. Some say you don't need to go to film school to make a film. I found it rewarding and inspiring to be around hungry filmmakers and learn the ABC's of film making. The real school is making a film but it's nice to learn the foundation and make the mistakes you are bound to make under tutelage. One thing you will never learn in film school is your voice and you have to have a voice and be thoughtful of what you are going to say to the world because you are speaking and people are listening. Too many kids run out trying to make movies and never consider what they are saying to the world. I don't work like that, maybe it's the father in me but I think about what I am saying to the world in my films.
Again we are looking for investors for "Destined" the feature film so we invite anyone that is interested to contact me at felixramos11@yahoo.com.
*You see view the Destined trailer in the BF Cafe Theater.
.06/08 pm